The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word NIOBE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
N
I
O
B
E
More clues leading to the result NIOBE
- One wearing black recalled proud mother
- Proud parent back home with award
- Returning home, one honoured proud Greek mother
- Stoned female content to down 10 beers
- One dressed in black: flipping stoned mourner?
- Weeping mother returned popular award
- Writer’s point about Old English figure of myth
- Ulster order was turned to stone
- One wearing black, , whose grief was legendary
- Stony woman from province given birthday honour?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Proud parent" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case proud parent = niobe.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.